The Extermination of the Zamość Jews

During the first months of 1941 the Jews were forced to live in separate suburbs. One house was given over to craftsmen, working only for the Germans. When the battles with the Soviets drew closer, the Zamość district became an area intensively preparing for the fighting and in need of additional workers, so that the Germans had to split up the above camps. From then on most of the Jews worked for the Bauleitung der Luftwaffe and also for other companies, building airfields in Mokryn, Lipsko, Klemens and Fabmiach. The working conditions were as follows: The workers received 52 grosh per hour, the skilled ones 80 grosh and office workers 84 grosh. They were treated relatively well, according to the work demanded of them. Employment of Jews alongside Germans aroused the interest of the authorities and in particular of the army to which these Germans belonged, and this led to some improvement in the conditions, compared to those in other towns.

In winter 1942 reports from Kolo about mass murders began to reach Zamość; under the disguise of population transfer the Germans “purged” the district of Jews. This ‘aktcia’ was carried out with great speed. In spring there were reports about the total liquidation of the Jews of Lublin.

The huge labor force that the Germans found in the Jewish population in Zamość and the constant income it provided for the army command led the authorities to postpone their total extermination. Therefore the expulsion from Zamość took place more or less every month or month and a half, and every time they chose those to be expelled. The first expulsion took place on Saturday April 11th at 2.30 P.M.. Two companies of the Schupo – Schutzpolizei -- surrounded our town (the living quarters of the Jews). At the same time a team of S.D. together with some of the company called Reiterzug (mounted police) in battle gear entered the market, while the head of the Gestapo Gotthardt Schubert and Obersturmführer Bohmann directed the ‘aktcia ’. Shubert, in the presence of the Jewish police and all the office workers and advisors of the Jewish community in Zamość, announced his conditions, demanding that the community provide 2,500 Jews by 4 P.M. If they did not fulfill his demand, the Germans would carry out the task themselves, using gunfire.

After 5 P.M. his order was fulfilled. In the early evening, the Jews, driven to the railway platform at a distance of one kilometer from the new town, were expelled. On the way very many old people and children, who couldn’t keep up with the crowd on the run, died at the hands of the Germans accompanying them. Throughout the night a team of workers (Jewish forced laborers) took away the corpses to clean up the town. A part of Lwowska Street, connecting the platform with the new market, was covered in pools of blood. The results of the expulsion: 520 corpses and over 2,660 Jews expelled. On the following day the chairman of the community (Memek Garfinkel) was called to the Gestapo and made to write down and proclaim (in the presence of the remaining population) that owing to the resistance to their expulsion, over 30 Jews had been killed. Two days later the newspaper Glos Krakowski published the information.

Since 50% of the Jewish population had been liquidated, the Germans transferred the rest to a smaller area. Between the first and the second expulsion, masses of refugees arrived from Czechoslovakia and Germany. The first transport comprising 1,000 Czech Jews was sent to the nearby forests. Another 2,000 Jews were crammed into Zamość and except for a few capable of working, provided most of the “material” for the second expulsion, carried out some six weeks after the first one. This time the expulsion was under the command of the Landrat, with the participation of German soldiers from ??? (not clear) and its aim was the liquidation of Jews unable to work owing to their age or for other reasons. The aktcia was carried out with the help of Jewish policemen from Izbica, all of them Czech Jews. That police force, numbering 18 policemen, was established as a supplementary force under the command of the chairman of the Izbica community for the purpose of assisting in the expulsion. This time the action started at 4 A.M. to surprise the Jews. Policemen of the Sonderdienst surrounded the Jewish neighborhood and at the same time the Jewish police together with the Izbica (Czech police) force drove the Jews to the space in front of the Jewish community building. Each person had to appear before “a committee”, consisting of officials in charge of the Jewish forced laborers (Kommandutura and Arbeitsampt), who determined if they would live or die.

Some 400 Jews not admitted by the committee, were sent to wooden shacks next to the railway station. Two days later, after they had gathered more Jews from the neighboring little towns, all were sent in waiting cattle cars to the Belzec death camp. The expulsion on the whole proceeded “quietly” and not many corpses were left behind.

During the next expulsion many were killed, similarly to the first one. The commander of the expulsion was Kolb, excelling in the Gestapo for his sadism and the supervision of his team. Since they considered the quota for expulsion to be too small, they added people from the workplaces to fill it, “as required”.

They crammed the surviving Jews into four small streets. They were very few. They lived in stables. After the third expulsion, the Gestapo, with the consent of the Arbeitsampt (in charge of Jewish forced labor) distributed to all the forced laborers cards with the letter Y, to serve as a document permitting them to remain in Zamość. All those who did not receive it were expelled by the Jewish police to Izbica. This time the aktcia was carried out by the Jewish community.

The final liquidation occurred on 15th October. Before dawn the Jewish ‘reservation’ was surrounded by a Schupo company and they gathered all the Jews who were working for the Germans. The expulsion was so sudden that many of them were unable to use the hiding places they had prepared. They were all concentrated in the market square and from there, guarded by the police and the Beiflargand, were expelled to Izbica. Any momentary stopping or rest on the way was a matter of life and death. Only 30 people and those belonging to the Jewish police received a permit to remain in Zamość. They were given the task of collecting the belongings the Jews had left behind. The people who had been expelled to Izbica did not stay there long. During the mass expulsion five days after their arrival 6,000 were killed. Fifty cattle cars took the “goods” to Belzec.

From that time Zamość was proclaimed “judenrein”, it was handed over to the S.S. and called Himmlerstadt. Sixty rabbis, who were “owned” by the Bauleitung der Luftwaffe, were handed over to the Arbeitsampt and assigned to building jobs in the town.

Kolb was promoted and given the rank of an officer, thanks to his cruel treatment of Polish Jews.

As for Engels, Gestapo’s representative in Izbica, a drunkard - his every drinking bout caused 10 Jewish victims.

The Pole Kelm (Engels’s aid) collaborated in liquidating Jews and participated in all the expulsions. The Pole Morginski collaborated in the liquidation of the Jews.

Schuerhaf collaborated in the liquidation of the Jews and also with Emesleben, who dealt with Polish affairs.

The Pole Mazurek, a music teacher at the Zamość secondary school (before the war), collaborated in the liquidation of the Jews.

The Pole Dobranicki, a priest before the war, collaborated in the liquidation of the Jews.

Neuberger –Gestapo.

Schmidt – Gestapo.

Bernard (from Silesia) – Gestapo.

Bolman – Gestpo. He had the highest rank and was not dependent on anyone above him. He was the chief liquidator of the Jews of Zamość and Krasnistaw.

The Pole Olecht Kazimierz (who previously served in the Polish navy) was the manager of the building stores for the Bauleitung der Luftwaffe. He received documents of a Reichsdeutsch (a German citizen) thanks to his services to the Gestapo.

Additional collaborators: Peter Paul Lucht; the Poles Klukecki and Liper.